I WAS seated at breakfast one morning in a small tavern in the town of C—, when a visitor who had been staying the night there came into the room and took his seat opposite me. I thought what a lovely expression there was on his noble face, and very soon discovered that he was a Christian. He had a “good morning” for all in the room, and a word in season for each; but alas, as is often the case today, his talk about the blessed Lord was not appreciated. He inquired of me, “Do you love the Lord Jesus Christ?” I replied, “Yes, I do, through grace, and I am pleased to meet with another who does.” “Oh,” he said, “He is the best friend I have. I was such a wretched old sinner, but He died for me, and now He lives to make intercession for me.”
He then proceeded to tell me something of his history, and I listened with great interest. Some fifty years ago or more he had helped to pierce the noted Box Tunnel on the G.W.R. One day he stepped into a bucket, to ascend to the top of the shaft, and when the top was nearly reached the rope snapped, and he fell to the bottom, a distance of seventy feet. He was terribly bruised and shaken, but through mercy he was not killed, and had not even a bone broken. God used this incident to awaken him, bringing those words home to him with great force, “For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.
They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone” (Psa. 91:11, 1211For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. 12They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone. (Psalm 91:11‑12)). He was led to see himself as a lost sinner needing salvation, and He who had been the preserver of his body now became the Saviour of his soul.
The foregoing incident is one more proof of the mercy of God to a poor rebel sinner, who deserved nothing but the judgment of a thrice holy God for his sins. Friend, perhaps you too remember some event in your history, when the blessed Lord in mercy knocked at the door of your heart, it may be through some accident, or the removal of a dear friend or relative by death. But, alas, you have turned a deaf ear to the entreaties of love. He is saying to thee today, “Turn ye, turn ye, for why will you die?” You say, perhaps, “I mean to turn someday―it is a long lane which has no turning.” True, friend, but forget not that the road you are pursuing will land you in hell, for it is written, “The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God.”
Consider this matter, I pray you. The issues are eternal. Are the knowledge of God, with all the joy and peace it brings, and heaven with all its everlasting blessedness, worth anything to you? Or do you prefer to go your own way, and lose all, for “there is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death” (Prov. 14:1212There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death. (Proverbs 14:12)). Come to Jesus today, for He says, “Him that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out” (John 6:3737All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. (John 6:37)).
J. R. P.